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Justin Blackmon sore, but ready to soar with Jaguars

Jaguars' first-round pick sits out final day of minicamp

Bob.Mack@jacksonville.com First-round draft pick Justin Blackmon scoops up a towel during an agility drill at the Jaguars rookie minicamp on Saturday. Blackmon didn't work out Sunday, the final day of the minicamp, because of a sore foot.

Wide receiver Justin Blackmon, the Jaguars’ first-round draft pick, had an unwelcome first as Jaguars wrapped up their three-day minicamp Sunday.

He became the first and only player to sit out a minicamp session when he missed the Sunday practice with what coach Mike Mularkey called a sore right foot.

“General soreness in the foot, being precautionary with this camp. We saw what we had to see [the first two days] and got a good chance to install and be around him and him be around us and we just felt it would smart on his part if we just held him out of the drills and have him ready to go with OTAs that start here in about eight days [May 15],” he said.

He added, “Is it worth the risk [to have him practice]? Why push it at this point when we’ve really got 15 practices still to go [in the offseason].”

Mularkey said he is optimistic about Blackmon’s prognosis, but said they’re talking about whether to have an MRI.

Blackmon watched the start of practice with a baseball cap and left early and the Jaguars didn’t make him available to the media.

Blackmon talked to the media Friday and said, “Right now, I’m just a sponge trying to take it all in.”

Because Laurent Robinson is already wearing his college No. 81, Blackmon is wearing No. 14. It was one of the numbers they offered him and he didn’t give a specific reason for picking it.

“I just looked at the number and thought it was different. I know I can play in any number and it will be fine,” he said.

Blackmon was scheduled to return to his home in Oklahoma after the camp ended and Mularkey said, “I think we’ll monitor everything there to make sure he is getting everything taken care of.”

Mularkey said he wasn’t aware of Blackmon having any history of foot problems.

“He got sore yesterday and finished practice and we felt like it would be in his best interests to make sure we were cautious again in this type of camp, where you’re just trying to introduce schemes and introduce coaching style. We still feel like we got enough information out to him to feel good about him,” he said.

Mularkey said Blackmon was impressive in the first two days of minicamp.

“He’s a very natural catcher with great ability to adjust,” Mularkey said. “It was the first time with these quarterbacks so it was impressive to see what he did.”

Mularkey said Blackmon’s probably still thinking a little bit because of the newness, but will get faster as he goes along.

Mularkey said he was impressed with the quality of play in camp and said they will likely sign two to five workout players.

The Jaguars said they won’t announce them until today, but Dave Lee, the agent for fullback Naufahu Tahi, who sat out last year, said Tahi will be one of the players who will be signed.

Tahi was invited by the Jaguars after Army’s Collin Mooney signed with Tennessee.

Tahi spent parts of five seasons with the Vikings and played 56 games with 14 starts at fullback. Tahi is no stranger to Jacksonville because he served a two-year Mormon mission in North Florida from in 2001 and 2002 .

Tahi said they knocked on doors and “we talk to them about what we believe.”

Although he said the residents were welcoming, he said, “It was tough out here. It’s the bible belt There are a lot of different denominations. They are very religious and fine where they were at.”

Mularkey said he could tell Mahi was a leader.

“You could tell he’s been in the league for a while. He knew how to do it the right way,” Mularkey said.

Mularkey said earlier the Jaguars probably would sign one of the two kickers in camp and probably wouldn’t sign a quarterback.

But he backtracked a bit Sunday, saying, “We’ll talk about it.”

Kicker Long Ding might not have helped his chances when a 23-yard field goal attempt dinged off an upright. He also had a low field goal that got caught in a palm tree in the parking lot behind the field. When the staff threw footballs at the ball to try to dislodge the football, two more got caught in the tree.

“I heard it, I didn’t see it,” Mularkey said of the kick that hit the upright. “We’ll talk about each position.”

When he talked about the quarterbacks, he said it “looked like who had experience and who didn’t.”

That could be a plus for Jordan Palmer, Carson’s younger brother who has the most experience of the three quarterbacks in camp.

If Jacksonville University’s Josh McGregor doesn’t get signed, he will go to Seattle next weekend. Some of the other players also might have another camp workout.

Mularkey lauded the draft class and said, “All of them did something. You could tell why we had them in here.”

He also mentioned the three running backs, free agent Joe Banyard and workout players Ronnie Weaver and Raymond Carter.

He also mentioned wide receivers Kevin Elliott and Mike Brown and center Mike Brewster, who rebounded from a bad snap in the Saturday morning practice.

On Sunday evening, the Orangeburg (S.C.) Times and Democrat reported that the Jaguars signed South Carolina State linebacker Richard Donovan. Also, according to the Furman University website, the Jaguars also signed Chuck Forcier, who played quarterback in college but projects as a wide receiver.